Who Became the Head of the “Church of England”?

Question: Who became the head of the Church of England after the death of King Henry VIII?

Answer on AI: “After Henry VIII (top-left) died in 1547, his son Edward VI (top-right) succeeded him as the head of the Church of England. During Edward VI’s reign, England became more Protestant, and policies were enacted to enforce Protestant doctrine.”

Answer in reality: Both after and before the death of King Henry VIII, the head of the “Church of England” remained the Roman Catholic Primate of England, provided he never defected to heretical Anglicanism.

You see, when a heretic like Henry VIII hijacks the Catholic Church in his region, it does not make him “head” of anything ecclesial—only a political leader.

So also, we can apply the hijacking of 2013 to Henry VIII and the heir-apparent (apparent being the operative word here) to the man of 2025: A heretical successor to a hijacker also inherits absolutely nothing except a city, even if there is great fanfare in his reception.  The first illegal act automatically nullifies the second.  (Yes, I know antipopes have validly named Cardinals, but never for the goal of destroying the Church.)

The last few remaining Catholics in England in the second half of the 16th century would have all agreed to this fact, even if admitted in hiding: Henry and Edward were only the heads of a new heretical Protestant community. Notice I used the word “community” and not “Church.” This is because there is only one Church on the entire planet, the Catholic Church. And this is because Christ can only have one bride. (Eph 5:23.)

The visible head of the Church (the only Church on earth) must be a Catholic, not a heretic.

Just as the so-called “Church of England” never had any status in God’s eyes, so also the “ape of the church” crystalized in 2013 (or on the last day of 2022) has no status in God’s eyes. This is true, even if only a tiny minority of the Christians today recognize the dogmatic fact that a heretic has no power over the true Church.

The true Christians in England were also called crazy, yet history vindicated them as saints and martyrs.  (Of course, the analogy breaks down here in the fact they stayed loyal to Rome, but the analogy re-constitutes again immediately as soon as we clarify they stayed faithful to Eternal Rome.)

Most of England defected, and the few who remained Catholic were drawn and quartered. Clearly, our martyrdom must be white instead of red.  But we must live in reality, not fanfare or AI.